WatchLists stocks are taking a breather
After a prolonged rally, stocks are taking a breather and all eyes are on rate announcements this week, starting tomorrow with US FOMC followed by ECB and BOE Thursday. Euro-Zone and US rates are expected to be kept unchanged but market is looking for a rate hike in UK.
The continued bullish performance for US and European stocks despite troubling growth figures out of the US and a spate of room-temperature earnings from industry bellwethers suggests that the real driver of the bull run on stocks right now is the global M&A cycle. There is huge momentum in M&A right now and a lot of free cash floating around, which will continue to be appealing to investors for months even if the earnings picture diminishes somewhat
This week will be closed by a string of US economical figures that could prove quite interesting for equities, among are Producer prices and Retail Sales however our attention is as the rest of the market on the rate announcements.
Company news:
Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc.: fell $1.64, or 7.2 percent, to $21.26 in trading after the official close of U.S. exchanges. The company, whose ships carry commodities such as coal and iron ore, had first-quarter net income that dropped 21 percent to $8.48 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $10.8 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier, according to a statement issued on Prime Newswire.
Guitar Center Inc.:
rose $4.60, or 10 percent, to $49.96 in extended trading yesterday. The musical-instrument retailer said it earned 57 cents a share in the first quarter as sales increased. The average estimate from eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey was 49 cents.
Hansen Medical Inc.:
rose $2.10, or 8.8 percent, to $26 in extended trading. The company won U.S. approval of a robotic system to aid with heart procedures. The system, the Sensei, is able to guide a catheter to hard-to-reach areas of the heart, the company said today in a statement on Market Wire.
Heelys Inc.:
fell $4.71, or 13 percent, to $31.63 in extended trading. The wheeled-sneaker maker said it expects to earn 37 cents to 40 cents a share in the second quarter.
Haynes International Inc.:
increased $7.15, or 9 percent, to $86.10 in extended trading. The Kokomo, Indiana- based manufacturer of alloys for the aerospace and chemical processing industries had fiscal second-quarter net income of $17.4 million, or $1.63 a share, compared with $9.96 million, or 97 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter, according to a report released on the Business Wire.
McDermott International Inc.:
rose $517, or 8.8 percent, to $64.20. The contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy had first-quarter profit that more than doubled to $158.1 million, or $1.38 a share, from $55.3 million, or 49 cents a share in the year earlier quarter, according to a statement released on the Business Wire